Green Savings

Free Home
Energy & Water Cost
Savings Collection

With over 530 items, below is the 3rd Edition of our free energy saving and water saving ideas, suggestions, tips, etc. to save you money in your home be it a house, condo or apartment. Be it energy or water usage reduction, these are green savings for the home.

Being (environmentally) Green In Your Home
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More (financial) Green For Your Home

If this single collection of over 530 money saving energy and water conservation ideas is a bit intimidating for you (that is, where the heck do I begin? ), there is another option for you to consider. We have spun off a second web site where the focus is purely on home water and energy saving, where all of these conservation ideas for the home have been sorted, grouped, categorized, and so on.

So, feel free to amble over to SavingsGrid.com, where all of these money saving ideas for your home are presented in a more usable manner. As well, there is a free 100+ Easy Ways To Save Electricity At Home eBook simply for signing up to the SavingsGridnewsletter.

56 *Indoor Clothes Drying Area in Winter
57 **Unplug Home Office Equipment At Night/Weekends
58 **Unplug Home Office Equipment When Not in Use
59 **Turn Off All Electrical Appliances Before Bed
60 **Use Front Door More vs Garage Door

61 **Don’t Leave Computer On All Day
62 **Turn Off Fans When Not In Room
63 *Turn Off Appliances/Computer Leaving Room
64 *Transfer Several Days of Food Freezer To Fridge
65 *Christmas Lights at Night Only

106 **Turn Porch Light Off When Last One Home
107 **Keep Porch Light Off
108 **Place All Home Office Electronics on Single Power Bar
109 **Place Refrigerator Away From Stove
110 **Light Wall Colours Minimize Need for Lighting

171 *Close Doors in Unused Rooms
172 **Turn Off A/C When Away At Work
173 **Turn Off A/C When Away On Vacation
174 **Use Basement Living Area in Summer
175 **Drink Ice Water vs Using Air Conditioner

176 **Use Less Lights for Less Generated Heat
177 A/C Unit Free From Grass / Weeds
178 **Raise Temperature in Summer While at Work
179 **Turn Off Lights During Hottest Part of Day
180 **Turn Off A/C When Out On Errands

396 **View Water Meter for Water Leaks
397 **Take Shallow vs Full Tub Bath
398 **Use Dehumidifier Water for Indoor Plants
399 **Turn Off Water While Brushing Teeth
400 **Turn Off Water While Shaving

401 **Turn Off Water While Washing Hands
402 **Turn Off Water While Washing Face
403 **Turn Off Water While Washing Hair in Sink
404 **Turn Off Water While Hand Washing Dishes405 **Turn Off Water While Shaving Face in Shower

406 **Turn Off Water While Shaving Legs in Shower
407 **Turn Off Shower While Lathering
408 **Turn Off Shower While Shampooing
409 **Be Sure To Turn Faucets Completely Off
410 **Shower Every Other Day

431 **Use Cooled Down Veggie Water for Plants
432 **Use Water from Hot Water Bottle for Plants
433 **Use One Glass for Day’s Drinking Water
434 **Soak Pots/Pans While Scraping vs Running Water
435 **Use Leftover Water in Bottles for Plants

436 **Reduce Toilet Tank Water Level
437 **Know Where Main Water Shutoff Valve is Located
438 **Collect Water Used to Rinse Things for Plants
439 **Turn Main Tap Off When Away on Vacation
440 **Use Fish Tank Water for Plants

441 **Bring Snow Inside to Melt & Water Indoor Plants
442 **Use Some Bath Water for Garden
443 **Use Some Bath Water for Trees
444 Full Clothes Washing Machine Loads
445 **Put Left Over Brick in Toilet Tank

446 *Only Use Hot Water for Showers
447 **Turn Off Water Heater When Away on Vacation
448 **Bathe Children Together
449 **Put Bottle of Water in Toilet Tank
450 **Install Aerators on All Faucets

486 **Apply Less Fertilizer on Lawn
487 **Set Sprinklers To Not Water Road / Driveway
488 **Water Slowly So Water Sinks in vs Running Off
489 **Water Plants With Watering Can Not Hose
490 **Don’t Water Lawn on Windy Days

491 **Don’t Water Garden on Windy Days
492 **Water Less in Fall & Winter Months
493 **Check for Lawn Sprinkler Leaks
494 **Water Lawn Less
495 **Turn Off Outdoor Fountain on Dry Days

Like many topics, energy conservation is very subjective. In our opinion, there are few truly universal best practice because:

what is best in one set of factors may not be best in a different set of factors (e.g. electric tankless water heaters may be best where the energy is supplied by a solar PV panel but not when it comes from a coal burning power generation station)

each person has different beliefs and priorities (e.g. saving the planet at all costs vs saving money at all costs vs anywhere in between)

Therefore we have used subjective ratings within each category to rank each tip. Words like cheap, moderate, simple, complex, and so on mean different things to different people; however, we have used such generalizations rather than try to actually calculate specific numbers which, while helpful, are totally dependant on a wide variety of factors.

However, how does one group or categorize an energy or water conservation tip? There are many, many different ways.

It is because much of energy usage is seasonal (for example home heating in the winter, home air conditioning in the summer) we have decided to present our above list based on :

Energy Reduction Category

The type of energy reduced by the energy conservation tip

Installation Complexity

The level of difficulty for the average home owner to install the tip

Installation Cost

The cost to the home owner to install / adhere to the energy conservation tip

Frequency

The number of times the energy conservation tip may need to be repeated

Payback Potential

The relative potential for the average home owner to save money by implementing the tip

And, remember to amble over to SavingsGrid.com, where all of these money saving ideas for your home are presented in a more usable manner plus a free 100+ Easy Ways To Save Electricity At Home eBook simply for signing up to the SavingsGrid newsletter.

Comments

I want to see the ecoEnergy Retrofit Program available to all home owners who needs in it immediately to help us create jobs, address the Climate change and save money on high energy bills. Canadians need to press their politicians to act.

Personally, I agree wiith you. There are a lot of shoddy home builders out there. A new home built in the past few years may have passed ‘code’ but IMO it doesn’t mean that it is energy efficient. It would be unlikely that many home owners of homes built in the past 10 years would find it cost effective to replace a (comparatively) new-ish furnace or A/C or replace the existing windows with ENERGY STAR windows, but they could undertake other home energy conservation measures for which ecoENERGY grants are available such as increasing attic insullation, installing basement wall and floor insullation, tightening up air leaks, etc.

Don’t forget the lawn!!! – Save energy by planting no mowing lawn grasses- less water, less pollution, less time managing. And Permaculture those landscapes – food for you, the birds and squirrel friends.

We recently took our dryer apart because it began to shimmy. The fan blade was covered with years of lint. Now clothes dry in half the time. If you don’t fear the possibility of a mysterious left-over screw, and your dryer is more than a few years old, try it.

PEOPLE ARE FORGETTING THIER PETS. WHEN YOU TURN DOWN THE HEAT IN THE WINTER CATS AND DOGS GET COLD. DURING THE DAY I PLAY WITH MY DOG TO KEEP HIM ACTIVE AND WARM. AT NIGHT I PUT A BABY BLANKET ON HIM. FOR MY CATS I TAKE A CARDBOARD BOX, TAPE IT UP,CUT A ROUND HOLE JUST BIG ENOUGH FOR THEM TO GET IN, PUT NEWSPAPERS AND AN OLD TOWEL IN IT. TWO GET IN. THEY LOVE IT AND STAY WARM.

One easy way to save energy is that I hang up virtually all my clothes to air dry using the spare bathroom. Two loads of wash can fit on the shower curtain rail and the towel bars (using wire coat hangers) and it is a big energy saver. Plus, it puts moisture in the atmosphere in winter.

I was surprised to find out that the Blue Box does not recycle caot hangers – they are of a low quality metal compapred to food cans and aluminum beverage containers. The energy savings (for the planet) solution is to take them back to your dry cleaner for resuse, thus making a friend at the dry cleaner and helping the environment by reusing.

Hi Dan, This is a great site. I really like the dryer vent solution. I live in Florida and the humidity is making the inside of my dryer wet. Did someone create the vent flap apparatus for the dryer vent or do I need a handy man to make it, please.

Candace, to which specific energy conservation tip are you referring in your comment? I don’t recall an energy conservation tip (which is the focus of this particular page) which calls for a dryer vent to reduce the humidity. All dryers should IMO be vented outside unless ‘up north’ and using a special aparatus to have it vent inside during the winter months to add humidity to the home as well as heat.

If humidity in the air by itself is making the inside of your dryer wet, then you need to IMO install a very good home dehumidifier such as we did with the SaniDry dehumidifier because this would only be one symptom of a larger issue with excess humidity throughout your home which can cause mold, etc.

You do suggest a low flow shower head but it seems that without the cut off switch for soaping, shampooing, shaving, etc. it isn’t complete and the only one I can find on good sites or catalogs is only about $12.00 and does fine even with low water pressure.

Please feel free to let us know of any addition energy or water consevation ideas you or your friends are using which are not already on our ‘Un-Offical Guide’ so we can include them to let others know as well.

Re: the no mow lawn…Glad to see this posting. I have been pulling my tall weeds and leaving the short ones, especially the yellow sorrel which is edible. I also ‘harvested’ my dandelion ‘seeds’ and will sprinkle those on my no mow lawn.

What a lovely article. I spend days on the internet reading blogs, about tons of different subjects. I have to first of all give kudos to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an unbelievable post. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only a few posses and frankly you have it. The combination of informative and quality content is definitely extremely rare with the large amount of blogs on the internet.

Hi Paul,
Hmmmm…..I would think that approach would be a wash, energy savings wise…..amount of energy to heat the water on the stove vs hot water heater.

Yet, it certainly saves on the water.

Don’t forget to enter our $200 Home Depot Gift Card giveway where you can actually enter this and other bathroom related home energy and water saving tip as part of your entry. Enter as many times as you want. The giveaway ends Feb 13, 2011.

I can attest to the tankless water heater. Had it installed and immediately saw an energy reduction. The only thing is that there is some maintenance like descaling, or cleaning the lines every once in a while but this is not a big deal. Well worth the investment, great device.

DailyHomeRenoTips.com writes about an average households efforts to reduce its energy and water use along with its other home repair and maintenance efforts. They also have a page on their site they call Free Home Energy and Water Savings Guide which…